The study examined factors that affect parental intention-to-vaccinate adolescent daughters with HPV vaccine in Mysore district, India. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1609 parents of adolescent girls attending schools in Mysore District between February 2010 and October 2011. A validated questionnaire was used to assess parental attitudes, beliefs related with HPV infection, cervical cancer, HPV vaccine and vaccination in general. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate parameters and assess whether a model based on the integrative behavior theory would fit the current data...

BACKGROUND: The aims of the study are to evaluate attitudes about childhood vaccines and vaccine refusal or delay among parents and to assess the role played by the variables mapped as potential determinants to suggest strategies that could improve childhood vaccination rates. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was intended for parents of kindergarteners. Parental attitudes were measured using the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) survey, to screen for Vaccine Hesitancy (VH)...

Neisseria meningitidis caused meningitis is life-threatening acute infection with high fatality and high frequency of severe sequelae. Meningococcal capsular polysaccharides can be used to prevent meningococcal disease; while conjugating the polysaccharides to carrier protein was found necessary to improve the immunogenicity and induce memory responses in infants and young children. Nevertheless, repeated administration of glycoconjugate vaccines might lead to carrier-induced epitope suppression due to limited number of carrier proteins...

Feral swine cost around $1.5 billion each year in agricultural, environmental, and personal property damages. They are also the most widespread carriers of the zoonotic disease brucellosis, which threatens both livestock bio-security and public health. Currently, there is no approved vaccine against brucellosis in pigs. This is a preliminary report on the development of a live-attenuated B. suis vaccine that could be employed to deliver heterologous antigens to control swine populations. An attenuated vaccine strain provided significant protection against B...

In Italy, several types of influenza vaccine are on the market. Available evidence suggests that no single vaccine type is universally appropriate; rather, different types may be more appropriate for different population strata. However, while the concept of appropriateness/preferential use of single vaccines is usually adopted at the central level, little is known about the attitudes of physicians on the matter. A pilot survey of Italian physicians (N = 372) revealed that most (about 90%) were aware that the available vaccines were different, and that particular vaccines were more appropriate for specific groups...

Developing country vaccine manufacturers (DCVMs) supply over half of the vaccines used in developing country immunisation programs. Decisions by developing countries to establish vaccine manufacturing should be based on economic viability, however reliable assessments of vaccine production costs are lacking. This study aimed to quantify the cost of establishing vaccine manufacturing facilities and producing vaccines in developing countries. This study estimates vaccine production costs in developing countries based on twelve vaccines produced by eight DCVMs...

The changes in the recommended storage conditions of the glycoconjugate vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis (Men) serogroup A and serogroup X can affect its activity or potency. Elevated temperature and the change in pH may result in the physical instability leading to the size degradation of the polysaccharide (PS) and subsequent loss of PS epitopes. Moreover, high temperature may also result in protein aggregation and altered tertiary structure of the protein in the conjugate. Consequently, the construction of a potent glycoconjugate is dependent on optimal temperature and pH...

BACKGROUND: Parents' attitudes and beliefs in vaccination are important to understand for shaping vaccine acceptance and demand interventions. Little research has focused on developing a validated scale to measure parents' attitudes towards vaccinations in low and middle-income countries; Ghana provided an opportunity develop a caregiver vaccination attitudes scale (CVAS) validated against childhood vaccine compliance. METHODS: We conducted a cluster survey of 373 households with children aged 12-35 months of age from Northern Region, Ghana...

In some serotypes of adenovirus (Ad), the penton base and attached trimeric fiber assemble into dodecameric virus-like particles called penton-dodecahedron (Pt-Dd), which can be internalized and used to deliver the vaccine antigens and drugs. Fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV-4) is an important pathogen, causing seriously economic loss to poultry industry in China and other counties. Pt-Dd particles from FAdV-4 infected cells, as well as in those infected with recombinant human Ad expressing fiber-1, fiber-2, and penton base of FAdV-4, were visualized by transmission electron microscopy...

We used a combination of DOP-PCR with high throughput sequencing (HTS) to study infected cell cultures over time to assess the feasibility of using this technique to provide a read-out other than cytopathic effect in cell culture infectivity assays. Because DOP-PCR primers feature a short constant sequence at their 3' terminus, the procedure yields a reproducible representational library of products from a given PCR template, including viral nucleic acids. Using SV40- and MVM-infected cultures harvested at different times, we show that the number of viral matches among DOP-PCR products parallels the quantity of virus as shown by real-time PCR, and further show that HTS analysis of specific DOP-PCR products that increase in quantity over time could be used to identify the infecting virus with a sensitivity similar to that of typical cell-culture assays that rely on cytopathic effect...

BACKGROUND: In November 2017, the World Health Organization received initial reports of suspected diphtheria cases in camps established for displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh. By January 11, 2018, over 4,000 suspected cases of diphtheria and 30 deaths were reported. The Bangladesh government and partners implemented a diphtheria vaccination campaign in December 2017. Outbreak response staff reported anecdotal evidence of vaccine hesitancy. Our assessment aimed to understand vaccination barriers and opportunities to enhance vaccine demand among displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh...

Universal vaccination of children against hepatitis A was introduced in 2014 in Brazil as a single-dose schedule. We analyzed the numbers of reported cases of hepatitis A virus infection (HAV) from 2010 to 2017 to evaluate the initial impact of that intervention. Data were assessed and has been freely available on the Brazilian Ministry of Health website. The HAV incidence was steady around 6000 cases per year until 2014. Between 2014 and 2016, there was a 85.5% cumulative drop, independent of gender and geographical macroregions...

Since its peak in early 2016, the incidence of Zika virus (ZIKV) cases has declined to such low levels that Phase 3 field efficacy trials may be infeasible. While great progress was made to rapidly advance several vaccine candidates into Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, in the absence of sustained viral transmission it may be difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of ZIKV vaccine candidates by conducting traditional clinical disease endpoint efficacy studies. However, ZIKV is still circulating at low levels in some areas and is likely to re-emerge in naïve populations or in sites of prior epidemics once population immunity wanes...

Amid provider reports of financial barriers as an impediment to adult immunization, this study explores the time and costs of vaccination in adult provider practices. Both a Vaccination Time-Motion Study and Vaccine Practice Management Survey were conducted (March - October 2017) in a convenience sample of 19 family medicine (FM), internal medicine (IM), and obstetrician-gynecology (OBGYN) practices, in nine states. Practices were directly observed during a one week period; estimates were collected of time spent on activities that could not be directly observed...

Cholera remains a major public health problem in many developing countries including Bangladesh. The oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is now considered a key component of the public health response to cholera. Although maintaining cold chain and organizing human resource are the major challenges of vaccine delivery to the community. Here we applied an innovative approach to second dose OCV delivery to minimize financial and logistic burdens. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and compliance of second dose self-administration when the second dose was provided in a plastic bag to first dose vaccine recipients as OCV is stable for up to 42 days at ambient temperatures...

INTRODUCTION: Rotavirus disease in Mongolia is estimated to cause more than 50 deaths yearly and many more cases and hospitalizations. Mongolia must self-finance new vaccines and does not automatically access Gavi prices for vaccines. Given the country's limited resources for health, it is critical to assess potential new vaccine programs. This evaluation estimates the impact, cost-effectiveness, and budget implications associated with a nationwide rotavirus vaccine introduction targeting infants as part of the national immunization program in Mongolia, in order to inform decision-making around introduction...

Conventional influenza vaccines are hampered by slow and limited production capabilities, whereas DNA vaccines can be rapidly produced for global coverage in the event of an emerging pandemic. However, a drawback of DNA vaccines is their generally low immunogenicity in non-human primates and humans. We have previously demonstrated that targeting of influenza hemagglutinin to human HLA class II molecules can increase antibody responses in larger animals such as ferrets and pigs. Here, we extend these observations by immunizing non-human primates (rhesus macaques) with a DNA vaccine encoding a bivalent fusion protein that targets influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) to Mamu class II molecules...

Respiratory infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. This is partially due to a lack of effective vaccines and a clear understanding of how vaccination route and formulation influence protective immunity in mucosal tissues such as the lung. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing acute pulmonary infections and is a leading cause of hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia. With multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa infections on the rise, the need for a vaccine against this pathogen is critical...

BACKGROUND: Poland introduced the 10-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV10) into the childhood immunization program in January 2017. During previous decades, considerable changes had occurred in the surveillance system for invasive pneumococcal disease. Therefore, to provide baseline data on pneumococcal diseases before PCV10 introduction, we evaluated the epidemiology of pneumococcal meningitis (PM), the only syndrome monitored consistently since 1970. METHODS: Based on laboratory-confirmed cases reported during 2005-2015, we calculated the reported rates, serotypes distribution and antimicrobial resistance of pneumococcal meningitis isolates...

BACKGROUND: A quadrivalent human papillomavirus (qHPV) vaccine (HPV6/11/16/18) has demonstrated efficacy and acceptable safety in international studies. However, these studies did not include participants from mainland China, which has a substantial burden of HPV-related disease. This is the first safety report with a follow-up period of up to 90 months from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of qHPV vaccine in Chinese women 20-45 years of age. METHODS: Participants were randomized 1:1 to receive three doses of qHPV vaccine or placebo (Day1, Month 2, and Month 6)...